Wanna Get your Basic Facts Speed Up?

Shannon recommends:

https://www.mathsbuddy.co.nz/game/speed-skills

Maths and Art: Coding

Animated GIFs are truly a 21st century art form. 

Here are some beautiful, black and white, mathematical GIFs from Étienne Jacob.

Links can be found there to construct your own GIFs

Ever wondered what live in New York, 1911, was like?

NASA Reinvents The Wheel

NASA has developed a new wheel 

for the rovers to prevent damage

Click here 

to see a cool visual showing the journey taken to get to this new technology. 

This video clip shows how flexible it is.

Persuasive Writing Competition

What issues do you feel passionate about? 

Which global goal do you want to stand up and shout about?

Poverty, inequality, climate change? 

Primary Section:

Write a persuasive letter about a goal of your choice to someone who they feel has the power to make a difference. It should explain why the goal is important to you, and why it is important locally and globally. You should also include what you would like to see change and what role young people can play in making this happen.  

The letter needs to be a maximum of 300 words.

Email your letter to stride@ideas-forum.org.uk.  All entries must be received by 28 June 2018.

Winning articles will be published in the August issue of Stride. There will be an overall winner plus 2 runners-up. Winners will receive Fairtrade prizes and their schools will receive a copy of Scotdec’s new Sustainable Development Goal resources.

Chess Club at Raroa

The Raroa Chess Club is due to start Week 2 of this term.  There are a few places still available in the group, so please contact Scott Wastney at kiwichess@xtra.co.nz for more information or to join the group.

When:         Fridays after school, starting 11 May

Where:        at Raroa Intermediate

Coach :       Scott Wastney 

Cost:          $90 per term

Group size: approx 12

Scott has been NZ chess champion three times and is a World Chess Federation Master title and Trainer title.  He has been coaching junior chess players for 15 years.  Click here for more information about Scott.  

Term 2 Timetable

	MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI
B 1	Mathletes 5	Mathletes 1	Mathletes 3	Science Fair
B 2	Mathletes 2	Ext Writing ™1, 2, 5	Mathletes 4	Ext Writing ™ 3 & 4
B 3	ToM	D-Lex Manawanui	Enrichments

Doctor Who mathematics

If you are fan of Doctor Who, then you might already know that the show regularly features mathematics...this clip is about Happy Primes...

What is a happy prime you ask?

You can think about a happy number in the following way. Take a positive integer, then replace the number by the sum of the squares of its digits. Take the new number, and repeat the process again and again. If the process eventually takes you to 1, then the original starting number is a happy number. If the process avoids 1 and goes into a cycle of numbers, then it is an unhappy number.

For example, 91 is happy, because it leads to the following sequence.

9² + 1² = 82
8² + 2² = 68
6² + 8² = 100
1² + 0² + 0² = 1 = happiness

Because 91 is prime, then it is not just a happy number, but also a happy prime.

If you are a Dr Who fan, you might like the BBC's Dr Who Fun and Games site.

Poetry Competition and Haiku Competition

The NZ Poetry Society Junior Competition

CLOSES 31  MAY

Open Junior Section

• Prizes First Prize: NZ$200. Primary/Intermediate Runner-up: NZ$50; Up to 20 Commendations.
• Entry fee is NZ$2.50 per poem.

Junior Haiku Section

• Prizes: Primary/Intermediate: three prizes of NZ$50; Up to 20 commendations. best of the 1st prize winners will be awarded the additional Jeanette Stace Memorial Prize of $100.
• Entry fee: NZ$1.00 per haiku.

Click here for details

Writing Competition

The Elsie Locke Writing Prize has been announced.

It is for Year 7 & 8 NZ students... 500–600 words. . .

click here for more info

This year’s topic is “Life in a changed environment”.

Students are encouraged to write a story about what it might be like to live in New Zealand a hundred years from now. What might have changed? Consider climate, population, food sources, agriculture, rising sea levels, and our forests and native species.

The winner receives $250, a certificate,

and their story is published in the School Journal.

Maths/Science Game

Take a look at the game on the VAX! website

It is all about showing how maths can help reduce the spread of disease. We are all connected to each other and it is through these connections that diseases spread. You can reduce the spread of disease by breaking these connections, either by vaccinating people or putting them in quarantine.

Calculating Pi with Real Pies

If you love Pi, check out Pi and "The Simpsons"

Check out a NASA website called Astronomy Picture of the Day. 

A new image is posted each day with an explanation.

Here is the image from April 11 2018...

Milky Way over Deadvlei in Namibia The trees in Deadvlei have been dead for over 500 years. Located in Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia, saplings grew after rainfall.  High above and far in the distance, the band of our Milky Way Galaxy forms an arch over a large stalk, taken last month. The soil of white clay appears to glow by reflected starlight. Rising on the left, under the Milky Way's arch, is a band of zodiacal light -- sunlight reflected by dust orbiting in the inner Solar System. On the right, just above one of Earth's larger sand dunes, an astute eye can find the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our galaxy. 

Physics Girl youtube channel

Basketball and a supernova

Find out how it is possible for a ball to bounce higher than it has been dropped.

This is a cool video from Physics Girl, who presents a terrific YouTube channel, full of fascinating videos.  

CHECK IT OUT!

Eight queens puzzle

Can you place eight queens on a chess board, so that no queen can capture any other queen? If you don’t play chess, then all you need to know is that a queen can move forwards, backwards and diagonally. Hence, the queens need to be placed so that no queen is in the line of sight (straight or diagonally of any other queen). There are no marks for this question – I have included it just to stretch your brain.

You can use the following website to try different possibilities. Good luck.http://www.brainmetrix.com/8-queens/

Calllouts for Science Fair and Tournament of Minds this week

If you are interested in finding out more about Science Fair or Tournament of Minds, come to the meetings this week or email me l.dunn@raroa.school.nz .  These are both Term 2-3 programmes.

Meetings:  Science Fair - Monday 12.20pm - Suite 1
                  Tournament of Minds - Wednesday 12.20pnm - Suite 1

Upcoming Event

Wellington Interschool Chess champs are on 28^th June at Newlands Intermediate

Possible Chess Club at Raroa

If you are interested, please contact Scott as soon as possible as we hope we can get this off the ground!

When:         Fridays after school, starting 11 May

Where:        at Raroa Intermediate

Coach :       Scott Wastney 

Cost:          $90 per term

Group size: approx 12

 

Scott has been NZ chess champion three times and is a World Chess Federation Master title and Trainer title.  He has been coaching junior chess players for 15 years.  Click here for more information about Scott.  

Please email Scott for more information or to register your interest at  kiwichess@xtra.co.nz 

A short but busy week...

Great to see so many families at the Learning Conferences last night - if you missed getting an appointment, please email Lynne, l.dunn@raroa.school.nz so that we can arrange another time to get together.

Learning Updates:

Manawanui students discovered the differences between self-esteem, self-concept and self-efficacy, and discussed the connections between them.  Team 2 Mathletes are finishing up their Stats learning by focusing on drawing conclusions and inferences.  Other Mathletes have completed filling their individual gaps in Number Knowledge and Strategies through problem-solving.  Some Ext(reme) writers have entered the NZ Intermediate School Short Story Competition which closes today.  This is a horror, scifi or fantasy that is related to 'Beyond Expectations'.  Each entry receives feedback from an author so we are very excited about that opportunity.  Roxy5 films are been edited expertly with the help of Ms Fa'a and Mr Johnston.  Springfire brainstormed the benefits and challenges of their strongest intensity, as well as strategies to make the most of the benefits and decrease the imapct of the challenges.  Finally, Philosophy's most interesting moment was noticing the differences we encountered in our responses when comparing:

"It is OK to lie to someone, so that they won't get hurt"

and

"It is OK for someone to lie to you, so that you won't get hurt"

Fish and Maths?

Watch until the end!